Except where stated in the post, photos posted on or after January 1st, 2014 are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.Basically, do what you like with those images but always credit Donncha Ó Caoimh as the author and link here. You'll also have to license the photo under the same license.

Cork, Ireland and Elsewhere

Tag: Timoleague

Death is a sad but inevitable part of life. A gravestone marks the earthly remains of the departed with a brief message recording their passing with, if space permits, a note from the grieving family. All that to sum up the life and times of a person. Seems very inadequate.

In the future of course many of us will leave a digital trail behind us: words, photos, videos, art. Has anyone created a service that finds that trail and packages it neatly on a CD or DVD? Search Google for “Donncha O Caoimh” and you’ll find out a lot about me but it really only scratches the surface.
Better than a few lines on a gravestone however.

Timoleague Abbey, in the town of the same name in Co Cork is an impressive building from the road. I must have driven (or been driven by my parents) past there hundreds of times over the years from childhood on but I don’t think I explored the Abbey ruins until about 3 or 4 years ago.

This is the graveyard surrounding the ruins, on a beautiful April afternoon last week. More on the Abbey here:

Timoleague abbey was founded by the franciscan order in 1240 A.D. The abbey was built on the site of a monastic settlement founded by Saint Molaga in the 6th century. The villages name comes from the Irish for House of Molaga, Tigh Mologa.The abbey was extended by Donal Glas McCarthy in 1312, and by Irish and Norman patrons in the 16th century. The monks were dispersed by the Reformation, but returned in 1604. In 1612 the abbey was sacked by English soldiers who also smashed all of the stained glass windows, but much of the significant architecture remains. The friars remained in the abbey until 1629.

De Lorean, the 80’s Belfast car manufacturer became a household name after their car’s appearance in Back to the Future. The name is instantly recognisable to a whole generation of people. Unfortunately the De Lorean company had already folded before those films were released.

The car above is the De Lorean DMC-12, the only model the company built. It stopped in front of us while we were having a picnic and I heard a woman across the road saying, “That’s the Back to the Future car!”
Lots more to be found on the Wikipedia page on the car.